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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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One more buffer week and the DGAW Comment Starter... BLACKOUT!? 🎉

The buffer period of Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2025 encourages everyone to finish the fanworks that weren't done on time! 💙

Which is to say, the 85 Years of Dick Grayson celebration is not yet over! Let's focus on giving some love to the participants. After the week is before the week!

💌 The bingo card aims at making people comfortable with leaving 3-5 sentence comments that enrich the community experience of sharing fanworks.

📬 You can leave comments on any type of fanwork, but to not clutter the bingo squares some placeholder vocabulary is about fanfiction or fanart. You can easily transfer the phrases to fit other fanworks, though!

🎲 HOW TO PLAY

Use one comment starter to write a comment beneath a Dick Grayson Anniversary Week fanwork that you enjoyed. Every participating fanwork of the last six years is eligible, which means you have about 150 fanworks to choose from. Find them on the blog (fanfiction, fanart, fanedit) and/or in the parent collection on AO3.

There is no reason to aim too high and get stage fright. A 3-5 sentence comment is perfect to conquer the hearts of fellow fans. You won't be punished for writing more, though.

Leave comments beneath five individual fanworks to get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal bingo.

If you're an overachiever, aim for a blackout, which means checking all squares!

If you want, use fancy Nightwing brushes to check your squares: How To Install Them for Photoshop or Gimp

🏆REWARDS

The first bingo receives the power to veto one prompt into the 2026 week. This reward has been claimed. I'd love to see your bingos if you're doing them for fun!

The first blackout receives the power to determine an optional extra challenge for the whole 2026 week. You have time until the prompt collection of the 2026 week starts or someone submits before you.

📩 SUBMIT YOUR BINGO BLACKOUT

To receive a reward and to keep it fair, please submit your card via this Google survey. It will require you to link to the comments you left. To find the link, simply click on the "Thread" button of your comment and copy your browser's URL. For Tumblr comments, the link to the post is enough.

Thank you for commenting and making the days of four fellow fans a bit brighter! 💙 The first to submit was @/Scarlett. She has been contacted! 🐦🤸‍♂️🕵️

#dick grayson #robin #nightwing #batman #agent 37 #fanfiction #fanart #dickgraysonweek

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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The two week buffer starts now! Welcome to the DGAW COMMENT STARTER BINGO! 🎉

The Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2025 has entered it's two week buffer period in which we encourage everyone to finish the fanworks that weren't done on time! 💙

Which is to say, the 85 Years of Dick Grayson celebration is far from over! Let's focus on giving some love to the participants. After the week is before the week!

💌 The bingo aims at making people comfortable with leaving 3-5 sentence comments that enrich the community experience of sharing fanworks.

🎲 HOW TO PLAY

There is no reason to aim too high and get stage fright. A 3-5 sentence comment is a perfect middle to conquer the hearts of fellow fans.

Leave comments beneath five individual fanworks to get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal bingo.

If you're an overachiever, aim for a blackout, which means checking all squares!

If you want, use fancy Nightwing brushes to check your squares. (How To Install for Photoshop or Gimp)

🏆REWARDS

The first bingo receives the power to veto one prompt into the 2026 week.

The first blackout receives the power to determine an optional extra challenge for the whole 2026 week.

📩 SUBMIT YOUR BINGO

To receive a reward and to keep it fair, please submit your bingo via this Google survey. It will require you to link to the comments you left. To find the link, simply click on the "Thread" button of your comment and copy your browser's URL.

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

Text

The two week buffer starts now! Welcome to the DGAW COMMENT STARTER BINGO! 🎉

The Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2025 has entered it's two week buffer period in which we encourage everyone to finish the fanworks that weren't done on time! 💙

Which is to say, the 85 Years of Dick Grayson celebration is far from over! Let's focus on giving some love to the participants. After the week is before the week!

💌 The bingo aims at making people comfortable with leaving 3-5 sentence comments that enrich the community experience of sharing fanworks.

🎲 HOW TO PLAY

There is no reason to aim too high and get stage fright. A 3-5 sentence comment is a perfect middle to conquer the hearts of fellow fans.

Leave comments beneath five individual fanworks to get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal bingo.

If you're an overachiever, aim for a blackout, which means checking all squares!

If you want, use fancy Nightwing brushes to check your squares. (How To Install for Photoshop or Gimp)

🏆REWARDS

The first bingo receives the power to veto one prompt into the 2026 week.

The first blackout receives the power to determine an optional extra challenge for the whole 2026 week.

📩 SUBMIT YOUR BINGO

#dickgraysonweek #comment bingo #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #robin #agent 37 #batfamily #teen titans

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Homecoming: Redux

For @dickgraysonweek Day 7 — BAMF Dick Grayson | A Celebration of 85 Years | Filling in for Batman

I actually did all seven days this year!!! Now onto @batfamily-week, for which I’ve only prepped one story 💀

Summary: When thirteen-year-old Jason has a breakdown after a mission gone wrong, Bruce calls in some backup. The backup (Dick Grayson) very much does not want to be there.

Characters: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Torture

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 7 #a celebration of 85 years #filling in for batman #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 7 A celebration of 85 years

A DC comics fanfiction for @dickgraysonweek event Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 7 A celebration of 85 years.

A old man named Dick Grayson celebrated his 85 years birthday with his family while his house have pictures of his both his public life and his private life as Robin such as the picture of the eight years old Dick coming out of a stage to show his public debit as Robin, one of the first sidekick in the superhero business.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 7 #a celebration of 85 years #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 7 filling in for Batman

A Batman fanfiction for @dickgraysonweek event Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 7 filling in for Batman.

When Bruce is off on a Justice League mission with others, Dick would fill in the role of Batman for Bruce to confused the criminals of Gotham as well keeping the peace in the city so Bruce don't have to worry about a thing.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 7 #filling in for Batman #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Cain Instinct

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64604743

For @dickgraysonweek Day 6: Multiverse | Dick's Harem of Older Men | Murder Attempt

Summary: Thomas Wayne killed Dick Grayson's family. One way or another, Dick will get his revenge. And Joker has just offered him the perfect opportunity.

Characters: Dick Grayson (Earth-3), Thomas Wayne Jr. (Earth-3), Joker (Earth-3)

Warning: Major Character Death

You can read it here or on AO3!

Dick shouldn’t have come without his gear. He knows that. He’s no fool. But the Talon suit had seemed to burn against his skin. After all, Talon is Owlman’s. And Dick is not Owlman’s. Not anymore. Not after what he learned last night.

It’s because he doesn’t have the heat detectors in his goggles that Dick nearly falls victim to Joker’s trap. He’s a trained acrobat, though, and it’ll take more than a fiery pit to kill him. He leaps out of the way, pulling himself into a roll to extinguish the flames that caught his black sweatshirt. He leaps to his feet, surveying the maze of boxes and scientific gear that comprises the Joker’s hideout.

Joker steps out from behind a particularly tall tower of crates, his paper-pale face stretched into a painful smile. When he claps his hands together in a mockery of applause, the sound echoes through the warehouse. “Talon,” he says. Dick supposes that his fighting style is plenty recognizable to Owlman’s greatest enemy. That and the makeshift goggles on his face. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Dick shifts into a fighting stance. He’s done playing second fiddle to Thomas. First, he’ll do what Thomas never could and defeat the Joker. And then, he’ll go after Thomas himself and take the man’s empire as his own. “I’m not Talon,” he growls, drawing two knives from his belt—one for each hand.

Joker laughs. “If it walks like a machine gun and quacks like a machine gun…” Dick leaps forwards, swiping with his right blade. Joker ducks out of the way, still laughing, and strikes towards Dick’s abdomen. Dick twists to the side and ducks as Joker withdraws a gun and shoots it inhumanly-quickly. “Tell me,” Joker says, sidestepping Dick’s kick. “Where’s your strigine companion?”

Dick matches Joker’s smile, lunging. He dodges three more bullets and slices shallowly across Joker’s chest. With any other piece of Gotham’s scum, that would be enough for the kill, but Joker is immune to any of the poisons Thomas has tested. “Owlman’s not here,” Dick says. “Tonight, you deal with me.”

“Oh?” Joker asks. He shoots again, one more bullet than Dick expected his gun to hold. Dick dodges—of course he does—but it clips his shoulder. He stumbles away, instinctively putting pressure on the wound. Focus, he reminds himself, and removes his hand from his shoulder. “Trouble in paradise?”

The gall. Lightning-quick, Dick throws a knife, pinning the Joker’s hand to a nearby crate. Joker doesn’t cry out in pain. Dick doesn’t even think the creature feels pain, anymore. Instead, Joker just grins. “None of your business,” Dick says. “Or, it won’t be, soon enough. Tonight, you die.” He throws another knife, this time going for Joker’s eye, but Joker grabs the first knife and pulls it out from his own hand, ducking just in time for the second blade to only clip his green hair.

“Actually, chum,” Joker says, “I think it is.”

Chum. Dick freezes. Thomas calls him chum. Called him chum.

Called him friend.

Called him brother.

Joker takes the opportunity to disappear behind a table covered in pages of scribbled notes. “You’re mad at him,” Joker says, sing-song. “So angry. I can taste it. You hate him.” Joker’s voice moves, like he’s travelling throughout the warehouse. Dick tries to track him. “And wouldn’t you know it! I hate him too.”

“Come out, Joker,” Dick orders, “and maybe I’ll make your death quick.”

“I think,” Joker says from somewhere behind Dick, “he hurt you.” Dick turns around and stalks forward. “Or—no, I think you’d be into that, little Talon. I think he hurt someone you loooooved. You pretend to be a sociopath, like him, like me, but you’re not. You’re not good enough.” Dick’s hands curl into fists. He focuses his hearing. He will make Joker pay for his words. “Tell me, did he hurt your mommy? Your daddy? Your little baby sister?” A low growl rolls from Dick’s chest. All of the above. Joker laughs in delight. “You want payback, kid. I can get behind that. How about it?”

Like a viper, Dick strikes, sending a kick flying into a stack of crates. They topple over, stunning the Joker, who was hiding behind them. Dick reaches out and fists a gloved hand in Joker’s shirt. He spins him around and slams him into a wall, bracing one arm against Joker’s chest and holding a knife to his throat. A drop of Joker’s toxic blood rolls down and sinks into Dick’s sleeve. And in that split second, Dick makes a decision.

“Alright, Joker,” he says. “Start talking.”

***

“He’ll kill you, you know,” Dick says idly as he lounges in the desk chair of some unfortunate STAR Labs scientist. Eleven feet away, Joker hacks apart a well-made but brainless clone. The wonders of modern technology, huh?

“Not if I kill him first,” Joker responds cheerfully. “But it doesn’t matter anyway. If I die, you’ll kill him for me, won’t you, birdie?”

Dick smirks. Of course. If he thought that Joker would actually succeed at killing Thomas, he would be planning to stab Joker in the back before he delivered his present. Thomas is his, after all—his to kill. But Joker won’t manage it. And it’s better this way. Two birds with one stone.

“Why do you hate him so much, now?” Joker asks, tilting his head as he saws off Clone-Richard’s arm.

“He killed my family,” Dick says simply. If Thomas had known what was good for him, he would have kept the secret to his grave. Instead, the man had thought that he was more important to Dick, that he had replaced the Dick’s first family in his heart. Well, Dick may have been the brother Thomas always wanted, but ultimately, Dick is a Grayson. And Graysons don’t let anyone take what’s theirs.

Once, Dick had looked at Thomas like a savior. The man had come to him in his darkest moment, put a hand on his shoulder, and took him into his arms. He gave Dick a home, a family, vengeance. And just like Thomas had planned, he had Dick’s loyalty, his devotion, his love.

For Dick’s twenty-first birthday, Thomas had given him the gift of a knife in the back. He’d stood there, one hand sitting firmly on Dick’s shoulder and the other resting gently on his cheek, and told him that he was responsible for the deaths of Dick’s parents and sister that horrible night. “I saw you,” Thomas had said, “and I knew you were meant to be by my side. It’s been five years, Richard. And now I know I was right.”

Thomas had looked at Dick like he’d expected him to be flattered. Like he’d expected him to be grateful.

And in a way, Dick is. Not grateful that Thomas freed him or chose him or wanted him or any of the platitudes the man went on to say. No, Dick is grateful for the power that Thomas has given him. Because not only did Thomas kill valuable allies to gain access to Dick—he told Dick about it. He feared losing his Talon so badly that he revealed what he did, rather than let Dick find out on his own. And instead of killing Dick when he raged at him and then turned his back, Thomas had pleaded with him to stay—and then let him go.

Dick was raised in the Grayson Circus, among the acts his parents had blackmailed into joining, and then sat at Owlman’s right hand. He knows that power is everything. And yesterday, Thomas gave Dick the ultimate power over him.

“It’s done,” Joker says, gesturing to a set of green boxes dotted with black stars and wrapped with purple ribbons. The clone has been cut into six parts: torso, two arms, two legs, and a head. For all intents and purposes, Richard Grayson—Owlman’s beloved Talon—lies in those boxes. Joker claps his hands together like a delighted child. “Oh, what a lovely present this will be!”

Owlman—outsmarted by a clown. Let the punishment fit the crime.

***

Dick watches as Thomas grieves. He tries to be cold and dispassionate, but guilt and grief begins to curl up like a parasite in his chest. Despite everything, Thomas was his brother for five years. He trained Dick to bring out his full potential. Gave Dick everything he asked for. Held Dick as he mourned his parents.

The parents that Thomas killed, Dick reminds himself.

If he can’t burn cold, then he will burn hot. He kindles the rage in his chest, lets his anger at Thomas consume him. And he waits, blood boiling as he seethes.

Dick knows how to wait. And initially he plans to wait longer—years, even. Enough time to sweep Thomas’s feet out from underneath him and steal his empire and life in one fell swoop. But then, he observes Thomas begin to look beyond this universe. Look for another version of Richard Grayson. A replacement.

No. Dick won’t allow that. If he can’t have Thomas—and he can’t, not after what Thomas did—then no version of him can.

So, Dick takes a poisoned blade and a costume with a bloody red V slashed across its chest—just like his old circus costume—and meets Owlman on a Gotham rooftop.

Thomas freezes. Cocks his head to the side, like he really is an owl. And then he’s moving, striding towards Dick with strong, powerful steps. He stops just in front of Dick, suddenly uncertain. “Richard,” Thomas says, voice quiet, wonderous. “Is that you?”

Dick has seen Thomas in the past two months. Even heard his voice. But standing here, with Thomas seeing him—it’s different. He sways, overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment.

“Systems are control,” Thomas whispers.

A passphrase. Dick swallows. “And chaos is cancer.”

Thomas wraps his arms around Dick, pulling him against his chest. “My boy,” Thomas murmurs. “You’re alive.”

And Dick wavers. Perhaps he could go on like this. Let himself sink into Thomas’s arms. Go home, to his second family. Erase his past.

But what Thomas did…Dick can never trust him again.

And so, Dick takes his knife—soaked in one of the few toxins which Thomas could never manage to inoculate himself against—and drives it into a chink in Owlman’s armor, just over Thomas’s stomach.

In the very same instant, Dick feels a twin knife sink into his back. He gasps in shock as Thomas rips the knife out and the blood rushes from his wound. Hands trembling, Dick twists his own blade out of Thomas’s stomach.

For a moment, they stand there in silence, Cain embracing Cain. And then, Dick lets out a tiny, choked noise as the pain hits in full force, tearing him open. It’s not the pain of Thomas’s knife—Dick has endured far worse—but rather the pain of the betrayal. Thomas was never supposed to kill him.

Thomas coughs, dribbling warm blood into Dick’s hair. “You foolish boy,” he says, voice rough. “You could’ve survived that, if I was alive to treat you. It was only supposed to—” He coughs. “It was only supposed to be insurance. You would have lived.”

Oh. So Thomas hadn’t meant to kill him. Dick’s fingers curl in the feathers of Thomas’s cape. He can’t bring himself to regret killing Thomas, though. In a way, this means that Dick owns him. He extracted the ultimate price—not Thomas’s life, but his own.

“Maybe,” Dick says, “it’s better this way.” Weakly, Thomas removes the cowl from his face and letting it fall on the rooftop.

Grinning through bloody teeth, Dick reaches up and wraps his hands around Thomas’s throat.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 6 #multiverse #murder attempt #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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💙 Dick Grayson Week 2025 Day 6: Murder Attempt

https://archiveofourown(dot)org/works/64604923

6ft Under the Manor by Rygdea

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 6 #murder attempt #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2025 day 6 multiverse

A DC comics fanfiction for @dickgraysonweek event Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 6 multiverse.

The New God Metron said to Dick Grayson, "You seems to be a major person across the known multiverse, Dick Grayson. There is countless variants of you in different alternate universe." and Metron show Dick different versions of himself as Robin, Nightwing, Batman, a secret agent, and even a assassin.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 6 #multiverse #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Dick Grayson Anniversary Week 2025 day 6 Murder Attempt

A DC comics fanfiction for @dickgraysonweek event Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 6 murder attempt.

As Nightwing fight the assassin known as Tessia, Dick said to the female warrior, "Boy, I can't believe that someone really wanted me die to hire a beautiful killer. Too bad that I'm too good to be killed, sweetheart." and Tessia try to slash Nightwing with her swords, but Nightwing keep dodging them and he soon knock Tessia out.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 6 #murder attempt #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Consumption

For @dickgraysonweek Day 5: Brainwashing | Truth Serum | Cryptic of the Family

Summary

The Bats rescue a brainwashed Dick Grayson from a universe with an evil Batman. The only problem is that he most definitely does not want to be rescued.

One year later, Dick Grayson is an amnesiac acrobat at Haly's circus, drifting through a life that doesn't quite add up. And then, he spots a strangely familiar man in the circus crowd.

Characters: Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Haly’s Circus, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 5 #brainwashing #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 5 brainwashing

A DC comics fanfiction for @dickgraysonweek event Dick Grayson Anniversary week 2025 day 5 brainwashing.

The Court of Owls are proud at their success at brainwashing Dick Grayson into being their lastest assassin and they will be sure that he will serve them well.

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 5 #brainwashing #fanfiction

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dickgraysonweek · 3 months ago

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The Next Cycle

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64551955

For @dickgraysonweek Day 4 Wonder Twins | "You will always be my Robin." | Unlikely Allies

Summary

“Tim,” Dick says. “You will always be my Robin. And there is nothing I want more than to fight at your side.”

“Then why,” Tim asks, “are you taking this from me?”

Or: Dick and Tim’s conversation in Red Robin #1, except we actually acknowledge that time Dick and Tim were Batman and Robin, and the transition to Damian as Robin goes much better.

Characters: Dick Grayson, Tim Drake

You can read it here or on AO3!

“Why?” Tim’s voice is hoarse when he speaks, like he’s only moments away from crying.

Dick doesn’t turn around, instead keeping his gaze fixed on the Batcomputer screen. It’s…some sort of report. He doesn’t know what it says. He couldn’t concentrate, knowing the conversation that he’d inevitably have to have tonight. Dick did everything he could to make this go smoothly, even getting Alfred to keep Damian out of the cave, but he knows that no amount of planning can make up for what he’s doing. “Tim…”

“My suit,” Tim says. “You moved it. Why?”

Dick doesn’t want to see the expression on his little brother’s face. His heart is heavy enough in his chest. “Damian needs Robin,” Dick says quietly. He knows he needs to turn around. If Dick wants to have any chance of salvaging the situation, he has to have this conversation face to face.

But he hates this. He hates having to make this decision. Playing with vigilante names like chess pieces, like they’re not identities.

Tim is Robin. Dick can’t take that away from him.

But he must.

“You said we’d be okay,” Tim accuses, walking closer. “My entire life has burnt down! Again!” Tim is right behind him now. Dick flinches—not at the anger in Tim’s voice, but the grief. Dick is doing this to his little brother. “I don’t call this okay, Dick.”

Dick swallows, and slowly turns his chair to face Tim. He stands. Tim is only a few inches shorter than him now. He used to be so small. “Damian is my responsibility, now,” Dick says, taking in the way Tim is already curling in on himself. They both know that Dick isn’t going to change his mind. But knowing the futility of an argument rarely prevents it—especially when someone as stubborn as Tim is involved. “Tim, you know better than anyone that left on his own, he’s going to kill someone. Again. You have to understand—”

“No,” Tim says. “I don’t. This is all I have now.”

“It’s not,” Dick promises. He knows—he knows what Tim has lost in the last few years. But… “You have Stephanie. Alfred. Me.”

“Do I?” Tim asks, gesturing at the empty case where his suit used to sit. “Because from where I’m standing, it sure doesn’t look like it.”

“You’re still my brother, Tim,” Dick says. “Robin or not.”

Dick can see the sheen of tears building in Tim’s eyes. “Why, Dick?” Tim makes a tiny, choked noise. “What did I do wrong? I’m sorry I went after Jason, Dick, but—”

“No,” Dick interrupts. “You didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t—this isn’t a punishment, Tim.”

“Then why? Why are you choosing him over me?”

“I’m not,” Dick insists. He thinks he’s beginning to understand what the world was like from beneath Bruce’s cowl, in a way he never did the first time he donned it. Dick has always had Bruce’s trust, but it was never enough for him. He wanted to be there, fighting at his side. He wanted to be Robin. And now Tim has what Damian doesn’t—Dick’s trust. But just like Dick at nineteen, all Tim wants is to be Robin. “Tim, he’s Bruce’s son. I can’t…”

“Can’t what? Just because he’s got Bruce’s genes doesn’t mean he’s better than me!”

Dick isn’t saying that at all though. “I’m Damian’s guardian now,” Dick says. “Bruce wanted me to take care of him. I can’t…” I can’t fail him. Not again. Not now. “And if I don’t give him Robin, he’ll leave.” And if Damian leaves, he’ll kill. Or die. Or both. “He needs this, Tim.”

“I need this!” Tim shouts. Immediately, he steps back, the anger draining out of his body. “Please, Dick. I was supposed—I thought we were going to do this together. I thought it would be like last time, and we’d handle it together.” Last time. It had been different, last time. When Dick put on the cowl and Tim flew through the air at his side. Back then, the world was a brighter place. And Bruce, despite his back injury, was still alive. “We could handle anything together.” Tim’s voice shakes as he looks up at Dick with pleading eyes. “Was I not good enough to be your partner? To be your Robin?”

Oh. Dick’s heart rips in two. He blinks the tears out of his own eyes and gently places his hands on Tim’s shoulders. “Tim,” Dick says. “You will always be my Robin. And there is nothing I want more than to fight at your side.”

“Then why,” Tim asks, “are you taking this from me?”

“You’re my equal, Tim. Not my protégé. Not anymore. I know you can handle this.”

Tim looks Dick dead in the eyes. “I can’t.”

And maybe—

Maybe Dick has misjudged.

There is still acne on the side of Tim’s face. He spends his days at high school. And he has just lost his second father in two years.

Dick thought Tim was ready to forge his own path. To take over Blüdhaven, even—Tim had lived there for a bit and patrolled it with Cass, and by now it’s been rebuilt enough to need its own defender. He thought Tim would ultimately thrive with the new independence. After all, the kid has been globetrotting on his own since he was thirteen.

But Tim is, undeniably, still a kid. And he’s doing what Dick never could at his age: admitting that he needs his home, needs help.

Dick’s eyes fall on the suits’ cases, where everything is lined up in a row. Multiple models of the Batman suit. Nightwing. Tim’s Robin case—now empty. Cass’s Batgirl costume, in case she ever wants it back. And Damian’s new case, with his tiny Robin suit. Dick thought it was time for Tim to become his own hero—to truly step out of Batman’s shadow and build a life and name for himself.

But maybe this is a different kind of graduation day.

“What if you could be Nightwing?”

Tim startles at that, looking up at Dick with wide eyes. After a few moments, though, he looks away. “I can’t take that from you.” It’s not a no. It’s not a no.

“You’re not taking it,” Dick says. “I’m offering.” He squeezes Tim’s shoulder gently and leads him over to Nightwing’s case. “You have a place here, Tim. Robin or not, that will never change.”

Tim shakes his head, but he reaches up almost trance-like, his fingers ghosting the glass. “Nightwing’s yours,” Tim says. “Bruce took Robin from you. But Nightwing—you got to keep that. It’s only ever been yours.”

And—yes, it’s meaningful, that Nightwing has never been something that Bruce could take away. But when Dick took on the mantle, he had been a lost teenager too. And just like Tim, he’d needed a place to slip into, an identity with a legacy that he could wrap around himself like a warm blanket-cape. “Actually,” Dick says, “Superman gave me the title.”

Tim’s head whips around to look over at Dick. “What?”

“Nightwing is from a Kryptonian legend. He works in the shadows, as a protector. And every cycle, he’s reborn. Being passed down is part of the legend, Tim.” It hurts, giving away Nightwing. Giving away the safety net that caught him when he fell. But Tim needs this. Tim needs a reminder that he has a place here, has a home. And Dick would do anything for his little brother.

Besides. Dick would be honored for Tim to wear his mantle.

“Please, Tim,” Dick says. “I don’t want to lose you too. I need you.” He lets his voice break. He knows it’s manipulative, but he’s not acting either. He does need Tim. He needs Tim to be safe. He needs his little brother to know he is loved. And— “I don’t want to do this alone,” Dick admits.

Then you shouldn’t have taken Robin, Tim could snap. But he doesn’t. Instead, he lets his hand fall to his side. They’re both silent for a moment.

And then arms are wrapping around Dick’s torso and Tim is burying his face in Dick’s chest. Smiling softly, Dick reaches out and pulls his brother closer in a tight embrace.

“Thank you,” Tim says.

“We’ll be okay,” Dick promises as Tim’s tears finally fall, soaking the fabric of the batsuit. “We’ll be okay.”

#dickgraysonweek2025 #day 4 #you will always be my robin #fanfiction

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